U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,838 discloses an apparatus for packaging stacks of face-to-face-arranged disk-shaped items, such as potato chips, in tubular packaging containers (canisters). A continuous stream of items is advanced on a downwardly sloping pivotal trough, and item stacks are formed by means of two plungers which are disposed above the trough and which are alternatingly raised and lowered. A separated stack slides into one of a plurality of star-like arranged tubes forming a rotary holder. As soon as a tube is filled, the rotary holder is advanced one step about a horizontal axis. In a subsequent station a canister which has a closed bottom at one end, is inserted over the filled tube. Upon further rotation of the holder the canister, filled with the items from the tube, is deposited in an upright orientation onto a removing conveyor.
Since the items are first loaded into a tube and the canister is inserted over the tube, the canister must have a greater diameter than necessary for receiving the items. As the stack of items slides into the tube, the leading items of the stack are likely to tilt which leads to operational disturbances because the entire stack no longer fits into the tube. Such an occurrence furthermore causes underweight packages which must be eliminated as waste.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus of the above-outlined type from which the discussed disadvantages are eliminated.
This object and others to become apparent as the specification progresses, are accomplished by the invention, according to which, briefly stated, the apparatus for charging tubular canisters in a charging direction with a stack of face-to-face oriented flat items, includes a conveyor for supporting and positioning an item stack thereon; a canister holder for supporting and positioning a canister; an arrangement for advancing the item stack in an item feeding direction from the conveyor into the canister positioned by the canister holder; an elongated guide member movable parallel to the feeding direction for introduction into and withdrawal from the canister positioned by the canister holder; a holding plate supported at an end of the guide member and being pivotal into a first position in which it projects into a feed path of the item stack for engaging a leading item of the item stack and into a second position in which it is clear of the feed path; and a drive for moving the guide member parallel to the feeding direction and for rotating the holding plate into the first and second positions.